This is tiny bit of my vinyl collection (thanks Mom & Dad). 

Now I am searching for the perfect piece of furniture to house them. Any suggestions??? 

What I'm Reading

Following Living Oprah, I started Julie Powell's newest book. It's been out for a while but I just got around to it.

This is a story of Julie's apprenticeship as a butcher but it's not just about that. Things are never about what they are about. Right?

There are many mixed reviews of this book. You can google them to read. I'm not a professional book reviewer. I can only give you my opinion.

I loved the Julie/Julia project (Julie's blog and subsequent first book). In fact, I credit Julie Powell with inspiring me to explore new things. That inspiration led me to a few freelance writing jobs, a fairly successful local blog and a new attitude about the second half of my life. So I guess some of my success as an accidental writer is because of Julie Powell.

I tried to keep this fondness for Julie from skewing my view of her second memoir. So here goes... I have never read a writer who was so brutally honest in my life.

I read the book in only a couple of days, stealing a minute to read whenever I could. All I kept thinking was, " The chicks got balls". As a writer it is incredibly hard to not want to present yourself in the best possible way. This could have been a rather boring book about butchery -which is interesting to me but, possibly, not to the masses. Instead, Julie explored and exposed almost everything about herself on the pages. She was completely honest, vulnerable, and self-deprecating. She had to know that this honesty could damage her career considering her squeaky clean image in the Julie and Julia movie yet she wrote it anyway. I finished the book over a week ago and am still thinking about it.

While I found parts of it pretty graphic and disturbing, I had to read on. Whether you end up loving Julie for her honesty or hating her for it, I think the book is worth the read.

By clicking the image above, you will be taken to Amazon if you want to purchase the book.

You can find Julie Powell at: http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/

ReadyMade magazine

I love Readymade magazine! Many of my favorite mags have "ceased to be" during the recession. I was in deep,deep mourning (still upset over Country Home) but ReadyMade has eased some of the pain.

If you have not read it....be sure to pick up a copy or check it out online.

In fact, it was through one of their blogs that I found out about the free music from Levi's.

http://readymade.com/magazine/

What I'm reading now

Living Oprah - My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk

by Robyn Okrant





This week's library book has been both entertaining and thought provoking thus far. As a "sometimes" watcher of Oprah and occassional reader of her magazine, it's been a lot of fun to read Robyn's adventures while she is trying to live out all of the suggestions that Winfrey makes through her show, web site, and magazine to encourange women to live their best life.

I'm all about the encouragement but I'm finding out that to truly "Live Oprah" it takes a lot of time and money.

Anyway... it's worth the read so pick up a copy or borrow it from your local library. Great summer read.

Farm City:The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter

Novella Carpenter has a menagerie at her farm that includes chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys,rabbits and pigs. She doesn't live in the country or even in the burbs but makes her homestead in the middle of an Oakland ghetto. Her tales of urban farming are intriguing, hopeful and at the same time, brutally honest. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the slow food movement, organic gardening, urban homesteading or to those that just dream it.

Be sure to check out her website at: www.novellacarpenter.com

Happy First Day of Autumn

As of yesterday, Fall is officially here. I started to put away the seashells and brought out some of our autumn accessories. I'm not quite ready to get the Halloween decor out yet but transitioning into it.

One issue was our dining room. We rarely use it so we put our bookcase there. Now the ongoing challenge is to keep the clutter under control. Books are a necessity for us and we're always bringing more home. We also have tons of books in our bedrooms and offices. I've tried to get rid of some but find it hard to part with a lot of them. I guess we'll just have to purchase more shelving.

Happy first full day of fall.